>> Good evening and thanks for joining us on the weekend review.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

City budget season is off and running and it's already a bumpy ride.

>> Challenging corporations to pay their fair share in taxes.

That's that's a reasonable expectation.

City Council budget hearings get underway with Mayor Brandon Johnson's pitch for ahead.

Tax on large corporations getting a chilly reception.

Anyone qualified to here in Illinois should be able to do so freely and without interference or intimidation with the midterm election just days away, advocacy groups raise the alarm about potential federal interference at polling places.

Plus Chicago's election filing period closes with 16 candidates filing to run for mayor and they are not full ballot challenges.

No doubt to calm were being asked patients delivering and there is no plan in place.

Another blow to maternal health access on the South side with the sudden closure of Roseland Hospitals, Labor and delivery unit.

Meantime, federal officials announced a review of a proposed Amtrak facility in Bridgeport that's drawn massive push back.

>> And now to our week in review panel.

Joining us are Justin Kaufmann of Axios, Chicago Batavia read of Block Club.

Chicago, 80 Quigg of the Chicago Tribune and Alden Lowry of WBEZ.

Good to See you Thank you for being So plenty to talk about ad.

The local U.S.

Attorney's Office is launching a hotline to report any fraud or intimidation.

Doj sending poll monitors around the country, including a couple heavily Democratic Indiana counties.

The other side civil rights groups are worried about, you know, potential voter intimidation interference.

That's all it's a speculative, but it's a little bit of a mess.

I mean, what are you going to be watching for?

How many people actually show up to protect the polls and what what the tension is there.

If anything, this is something.

>> Democratic officials have worried about cents a lot of the ice actions here, whether the president would somehow militarize polling places and whether that action would keep people from showing up in the first place.

So I think I'll be watching to what polling places, if any of those kind of a face-off between any federal officials show up and local democracy groups that are there to kind of defend.

I think what's important know is that no one should be blocking you from entering your point place.

No one should be coming out.

You aggressively asking about your intentions to vote.

There are lots of different numbers to call to report that kind of stuff in.

you know, just and despite all the potential tumble.

>> So far, early voting in Chicago's moving at a pretty healthy clip.

It is.

I mean, it's out.

It's it's we're outpacing 2022.

By about so for early voting and talk about 35% from 2020, just looked at the numbers will be a new batch that launches in like 30 minutes.

This is 6 o'clock.

Right?

Okay.

So 35 up but very interesting.

Voting by mail So it's about 8% down.

So I think when it comes doubt together, it's about 15% op is when voting is at this point.

But in terms of the excitement to get out and early vote, you're seeing much more fanfare for it.

And you did in 2022.

And some of that may also be out of concern for what might happen on Election Day.

Just on my drive up here, miss the traffic was on Lake Shore Drive.

There were folks with signs that said MAGA cheats vote early on one of the bridge's pedestrian bridges.

So >> there's there's a great concern that this is an election where people have to worry about things like Yeah, it'll be interesting to see whether all that early voting actually translates into higher overall turnout.

I think there's very fair chance, as you say, that might see approximately what we usually do and a heavy midterm here.

But as as voters get more and more cars into the convenience of voting whenever they want to vote more people come out and vote early but doesn't always translate into higher numbers overall.

And this is not I think about all the races in the midterm and and what's at stake when it comes to Congress, the Senate and other place.

A lot of those storylines are not effective.

And in Illinois.

And so you have a governor's race that is not as close as probably The governor's race has been at this point.

Same with the Senate race with the congressional district races.

>> Thanks to Democrats in Springfield, who of redistricting map that gives him advantage.

But you don't see that.

So, but it is still interesting that in Illinois people are coming out more than it did.

But you have absolutely right.

I don't know if turnout going to be more just because it's the midterm.

Yeah.

The big show and a gerrymandered state is usually in the primary and it certainly was here tell what are you going to be watching for?

Yeah, of course, the governor's race.

I like we know JB most likely pull ahead.

But I think just really tracking that.

>> Keeping up with what's going on.

That's I'll be watching.

Be curious to see whether Daryn Bailey's, you know, attempts at you know, more of a statewide campaign translate into higher vote totals than he got last time because Ackley?

yeah.

He's spending his campaign is very interesting.

On Monday.

He's coming to Chicago.

He's spending the last leg of the Darren campaign is in the Chicago Chicago Land area.

I think that's interesting to see that his strength is obviously downstate, but he needs to make these amend its interesting to see that he's in Chicago on the last day where Pritzker.

>> He's going to be all over the state.

Yeah.

So the most exciting races, though, are really social with the midterm for us locally.

And I mean, the school board races, both of the president and for those districts eats, I'm going to be pretty hot be watching those yeah, it'll be very interesting.

And that's a race where >> there's a lot of interest, not necessarily a lot of you.

No reliable polling.

So it's going to some lot of people have their polls Tuesday night.

>> Another one of the races on the ballot ad.

79 year-old Cook County Board, President Toni Preckwinkle heavily favored to win a record-tying 5th term.

What's her thinking about?

You know, what comes after this term?

A possible successor.

wants to run through the tape.

I think especially all the programs that she launched with federal pandemic relief dollars.

Our programming guaranteed income seeing through what is almost guaranteed to be a very difficult budget cycle for the next foreseeable future.

Given all the cuts to Medicaid at the federal level that is going to make next year's budget.

Very difficult.

she has her eye on picking the right person to what extent you can as head of the county Democratic Party and someone has like a farm team of people in the 4th more that she's helped come up politically.

The 2 names I've heard or Commissioner Bill Lowry currently on the board and state Senator Robert Peters, who a lot of people can describe like a son to her a longtime mentee.

So I'll be watching what margin she gets.

She's running against Libertarian.

They famously don't do very well here.

But then how she pivots get through this next budget and then set yourself up for saying goodbye, potentially pandas, are we sure she's As you said that the Times I go.

Last one we're like.

Alright, one more.

important I believe it because I got a text from a former Tribune reporter was like she said that after she said she would stop after her second term said again after her 3rd attempt.

It's just such a fun job.

You she seems to enjoy it.

You got it.

she does.

This is what happy wind instrument.

John Daly, who's been on the county board since 1992.

>> Said, you know, she's like me.

We both just love.

Week.

We can imagine ourselves doing anything else.

And she's always said if I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing public service of some kind.

This is all I've known for the better part of.

More than half of her life.

>> All right.

we'll see whether this is the last rider with in 4 years say 83 year-old Cook also on the ballot.

Justin in 11 counties, an opportunity for voters to express their displeasure at being Illinois.

Yeah, we've been seeing this before.

So there's there's a movement.

It's a it's a new Illinois separatist movement in the movement is essentially to say we don't like the policies and politics of Illinois being a Democrat state driven by Chicago and Cook County and so many down states counties put non-binding is very important states, non-binding, nothing but essentially said you want you want to separate from Cook County in the rest of Illinois.

They've already have 33 counties of the 10304 counties that are in Illinois.

This would make 44, I mean, close to half of the counties in the in the city or the state of Illinois has said I don't want to be a part of Illinois anymore.

Now, I don't take what you will.

I mean, again, the non-binding referendum questions that are on the Chicago ballot are kind of all over the place.

These are all over the place.

We'll see what it means.

But I think just asking the organizers what's next as they really just want to get the attention of the people in charge that not that they feel that not everybody thing resented by the government that right now runs the state of Illinois and it's far too concentrated city, Chicago, people on the other side say this is where the the economic center in races where most of the population lives.

This is this is unfortunately you're able to sustain However you live based on the taxes that are coming from tax base in Chicago.

So you can't have both world eventually what they Write the Chicago area puts far more into the state's coffers.

Then we get out of it.

But, you know, that doesn't mean people like that.

we're talking about Let's say that they somehow did get something to happen in that regard.

You have to go through the state legislature would have to pass a two-thirds.

That's super majority Democrat.

I mean, it does.

It's not a political movement, but it really is right and left.

And then you have to get Congress to actually ratified and to another state to make it equals a lot going.

A lot of west and north and south.

And you could like the coaches and Virginia as a movie.

They will have a West and East.

Illinois are thought it was interesting to hear to.

The Indiana said they'll be waiting with open arms to just take the and the end.

It's just when every time we have any sort of political problem in the end, it's they want our counties.

They want our Bay Area this movement has really picked up speed.

>> Because of the success of the Indian University football Yeah.

Obviously coach Cignetti has really really don't think so.

has to that has to be.

think we have you on the All right.

Well, we're going to get through the midterm on Tuesday, one way or another.

But then things don't stop because that we go right into the municipal election.

>> Alden 16 candidates have filed to run for mayor of Chicago.

We're not gonna say 16 people on the ballot, though.

Fair to I mean, maybe not a full 16, but a lot wasn't 29th 2019 election.

We had host 3rd Avenue So we may see a few people drop off, but a lot want to you know, with the counts on some of potential start with no some folks who are, you know, consider maybe 8th or 9th or 10th in this running.

>> We're turning 24 26,000 signatures.

So we could have a very full ballot come come spring.

Yeah, but we also do have a guy with a lot of money who >> can pay for all of those election attorneys to challenge everybody else in the field.

If he so chose will be interesting to Yeah.

What one imagines.

that's race.

I mean, it's very for for people who are in the politics that I mean, the idea of this mayoral race, this may be the strongest field of candidates we have seen in in our lifetime.

These are all elected officials.

That's the one thing only seems to point out that, Suzanne owners reelection.

Mike Quigley won re-election.

The memory up happens sometimes rip happens, won reelection, right?

These are all people who have people in Illinois.

People in Chicago have voted for before on ballot.

That makes a lot different than we've seen in 2024.

29 to 23, 19, where you had sort of newcomers that were coming up and trying different things.

These are tried and true Democrat winners running for mayor now and that means they know the ballot challenge as well as anybody else.

Alderman Ronnie, mostly in the 20st Ward.

He is running unopposed for re-election and he's hardly alone in that.

Among some of his colleagues.

Guess I like to think of all the monies are many as of failing to file that way to us.

>> what's funny is that when all Ronnie Mosley was elected back in 2023, he was in the pool with 7 different 75th people wanted to take the spot and Howard Brookings Jr and now it's just 7 us right now.

And when he did enter, there are a lot of tough things happening on the far South Side, a lot of closures of grocery stores.

Businesses were closing.

And of course, he brought new development to the community.

But it is just always so funny to see when it's just now down to one person who just wants the job, especially when just cover so many different areas and units that do you think it's just a sense of folks seeing the power of the incumbency and realizing, well, you know, I don't want to I want to go against this guy, even though maybe ahead ambitions to before.

Absolutely.

I think also because the 21st so massive and now includes parts of what was formerly the 34 Ford.

So just so many different areas, you have to govern and to speak with people in general.

They like mostly they think he's doing as good a job as you can do.

So yeah, putting together a lot of different constituencies is not necessarily an easy feat for another person to kind of change of pace to normal when incumbents are running unopposed.

It's because they booted this just happened organically so we can be happy if it means something about the job itself.

I mean, this job is not a part-time job.

You know, a lot of times if your state rep and you're in Congress, it's a little bit of time.

And you I mean, if your state rep that's right, you're you've got 2 or 3 times actually have to be in Springfield or as but for an autumn.

And you are you are truly every day running through the cycle.

So I wonder if that also has to do with.

>> People being like this is a thankless job.

There's not a lot of power anymore.

frankly, the decisions that are made are putting people in pain, budget, other things.

So it may not be sort of like I won it as it used to be put in the past in Chicago.

Politics Leicester years.

Also been just so raucous and divisive gridlocked.

But I I would imagine a lot of people are looking at this being like, how much can a recently get done when the council's working like it is right now?

Yeah.

>> And the flip side of that, though, that the council's no longer a rubber stamp and they're saying I've got this job, I want to keep it.

I can actually, you know, maybe it's just within my own ward, but I can exert a lot more control than perhaps I once did with the mayor of, you know, breathing down my neck.

I mean, I would imagine that's at least some of what mostly and a bunch his colleagues are thinking here yet.

Another body Mosley is also very young when he was elected back in 2023.

He was the youngest person to join city council at the time.

So this is just it will be his second term.

So he's really just getting started compared to hear about other all the men who've been serving for 20 plus 20 Preckwinkle track we'll be talking about 79 year-old onto look some point.

>> Well, speaking of council ad, it's the most wonderful time of the year budget hearings have begun.

What of all there's had to say so far about the mayor's proposed spending plan the number that we would expect don't like.

It have been very loud about not liking it.

So the mayor would call these folks the corporate caucus for the billionaires caucus basically saying, hey, we we told you before this began, we would not go for another head tax.

Here are the mayor comes with a head tax tweaked from his last proposal last year to say we would apply it to everybody but certain neighborhoods on the southwest side basically get a payback we've also heard a lot of skepticism about how balance this budget is.

We heard from SNP last week, but they were watching, which was several line items that are non structural.

So this is like a one-time fix for one year, not really going towards closing this nearly 1 billion dollar gap.

Obviously it's smaller than last year, but still considerable roughly little bit over half of it, according to the city's CFO, our structural.

So it's we'll have to figure out.

a lot of things these Adam like this head tax are going to have to figure out what to put there.

And I'm interested in the game of chicken.

If they tried to force the mayor to come up with something else with the come up with something else on their own.

There's also a push to make a 75 million dollar additional payments to the pension fund instead of just cold again with the additional so that could be another 75 to have to find and then, of course, we always have all these random caucus is the kind of get together say I don't like this little thing over here.

It's going to be raucous.

Anyone who thinks that this is going to be done in a month.

I would like to see you about taking bets strategy to I mean, because, you know, obviously budget is policy, but a lot of this is politics and now and actually now running for re-election, getting an opportunity to be in that lane to being a progressive lane, too.

>> To say the billionaire's unity, their fair share and then you have a council being like no, right?

They're going to pay nothing.

In your view, just it's almost becomes a campaign commercial for the mayor and what he's running on or what he wants to Dallas say this is class war, which is exactly the kind of image that the mayor wants to paint heading into this election.

A lot of alderman want to pay putting into this election saying I'm fighting for you, but these over here will let me do it.

So I speaking to some folks in the mayor circle when we got a big press release right after the budget came out from a bunch of business groups have said we don't like this.

There were like perfect.

Great, great exactly what we wanted to hear.

So we've got the December 31st deadline.

Look in your crystal ball.

How long is it going to help close to the deadline who they're going to walk and that's put on I think is going to come down to the wire.

And I think you're right on point around political what's at stake politically here.

you know, you know, the mayor is >> very low on campaign cash compared particularly to Alexis, really us his approval numbers are low.

This seems to be a lane.

This is this was his his stomping grounds from the very beginning.

This is the candidates and I am.

>> He's trying to govern that way.

He's run into a lot of roadblocks.

This may be his one pathway to really kind of figuring out a way you can connect with the electorate and didn't get enough to at least get into a runoff.

2, I have a chance being re-elected.

All right.

Well, a way to lure off air.

Let you to set up your site that, but I know that that's Alright, really big neighborhood story this week.

Tva Roseland Hospital.

The latest in a string of safety net facilities announcing they'll close their maternity ward.

>> Originally it was looking like end of the year, but they move that timetable way up.

staff are really shocked to find out.

First of all, at early September that the labor and delivery department would be closing and they were told that it will be 90 days and few days later it was a verse.

Actually, this will be 30 days effective.

October 30st.

>> So the big question is, what's the plan now?

So many South Siders people in Roseland in nearby depend on this hospital, get the care that they need.

It also accept Medicaid.

It's a safety net hospital.

So just knowing that people won't be able to get the care that they need affordable price, it's it's really disheartening.

Well, and especially, you know, Roseland and a lot of the surrounding communities, they're kind of transportation desert for, you know, folks may not have access to a car and may not have access to, you know, the public transit, they can get them to another facility nearby.

Exactly.

The next closest hospitals are about 4 miles away.

And that's if you're driving and going to Roseland Hospital, Speaker nurses, they said a lot of patients but walk or if they were going into labor, they didn't call an ambulance are able to be dropped off because of how close it was.

But now there's that fear of having to travel far.

Just not going to get the care that you need even leading up to having your child because it's not accessible.

And have we gotten no clear answers from, you know, hospital administration about kind of what the transition plan looks like for folks know.

We have a speaking with staff.

They've been saying that services are suspended.

That's what they've told any tell patients that as well because that's the language even given.

But when patients here that they will no longer be able to come here, that there's not a plan put forth yet.

They just to the were closed.

Yeah, that's very scary for a lot of folks in a vulnerable spot.

Alright ad Amtrak's plan to build this new maintenance facility in Bridgeport.

>> Ran into a wall of opposition and now the feds announced they will do an environmental assessment after all, does it seem likely that they're going to reports reversed course on a project?

They appeared poised to approve.

I did not work for the Federal Railroad Administration for good to know.

Think >> I don't know.

We're going to see what the review looks like another.

They basically said we're going back to the well because there's a viaduct planning here that we haven't had a full look at.

I know that all the elected officials that have very little actual power to stop this thing are grateful for a little bit of a reprieve.

Someone was mentioning like, OK, this thing goes through the winter months are a couple shovels in the ground in January, right?

So this may be buys us a little bit more time to figure something else out and might give them time to draft a lawsuit.

Yeah, you know, it's this whole issue is is fascinating because there's just a real push to develop that industrial land that is in the near South side there that that's when fire stadiums can ago.

That's where you want to put White Sox team.

>> But when you do that, that is an existing industrial yard.

And so that needs to go somewhere.

So it's really interesting that, yes, we're all about been spending the big bucks to make it look shiny and something new.

But nobody wants to talk about.

Where do you put the thing that really is all of the trains can't go anywhere else.

They need to be in that area.

That's where they depot.

So it's I don't I it's a head scratcher.

If it's not going to be expanded in Bridgeport where it's going right enter a good look at a couple other sites that both Alderwoman Land Commissioner Daily said we look at this other one.

There's a couple other tracks were basically Amtrak said this is not going to work.

This is our very best option to go.

>> Right in this residential area.

So we'll see what the next protest look like to your point.

A lawsuit get started and what the environmental report actually says about pollution and noise.

And got it.

We put the train yard underneath and then we put the bear stadium on top.

There you go to there you go.

the second being put the second right there.

We've got a folks.

We solve all the problems that are ready go home >> All right.

Moving from trains to cars, cars that are not moving all hue and your son Times colleague Dan Mihalopoulos that really great deep dive into why traffic on the Kennedy is so awful day and night.

Think anybody who drives on it at any point we kind of knew this in our bones, but you really looked into the facts and figures.

What did you find what we found vindicating data that that it showed >> As the governor said, on the Kennedy was indeed the case.

It did.

Now what our analysis also showed is that unlike what the governor was alluding to, which is that our travel times to get a lot better once the main can and can't construction was done was that traffic would get better and well, at least with certain hours of the day, it's actually gotten worse.

Inbound traffic, particularly in the afternoons from 3 o'clock.

4 o'clock.

5 o'clock.

6 o'clock hour are worse than they were actually even during the height of the committee construction.

And a lot of frustrations of frustrations that we heard from people, particularly doing that reverse commute.

But people who've been using the committee for years and years and years were saying, yes, this was absolutely horrible.

And your data now since confirmed it and then this make them feel a whole But I didn't know how right is there any relief in sight here?

>> Well, I think there could be relief coming, particularly when the foster bridge work is done that the thing that people may not realize says while there was this big can be thing that lasted for 3 years, 2 and a half years.

Well, too, and have your But there were 3 other projects also going on.

They were rebuilding the Edison Bridge, the foster branch, and they taking care of the ramps from Ohio, Ontario, Anthony Kennedy.

That foster work has been delayed for several months.

And that's a big part of why some of the traffic, particularly that inbound traffic in the afternoon, still really, really bad.

>> Well, I'll just say right here, any politician running for office the next 6 months, can turn that from 45 to.

25 got And that includes I don't mind or not.

The core issue of our times.

That hurt that that Kennedy construction project hurt and the idea that it's not fixed there isn't this at the end, reprieve is really hard to hear its real.

I might have to I got to get on the committee 12 days stuck in traffic for some people are in for deadly Fort a traditional commuter, somebody who was traveling in the afternoon inbound in the mornings.

>> Yeah, you're essentially spent 12 additional.

There's a traffic during that the 3 plus years of the contract yeah, and it's so horrible.

I mean, we look at the ETA on a ride anywhere and you just see a crawling by minute by minute.

And even just sick of people were doing just to stay awake, having to stories protect things like that.

Like just been there before.

And just, Yeah.

I was coming back in from the airport and Sunday at like 4 o'clock.

And I thought I was maybe going to miss this year broadcast because traffic was so bad.

If there was one silver lining out safe from all of this was the motors that we talked to who essentially got an e-bike 20 minutes offer travel time.

>> By riding an e-bike from her neighborhood up north to the lake, a lot miles down the lake and then to her Southside job.

still say 20 minutes on her commute.

So yet another reason the lakefront is the crown jewel of for are some of the crown jewel reporters.

But unfortunately, we are out of time.

>> So our thanks to Justin Kaufmann Batavia read.

To be quick and Alden Lowry.

We're back to wrap things up right after this.

Chicago tonight.

>> Is made possible in part why the Alexandra and John Nichols fate.

The Joyce Foundation.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support these >> And that's our show for this Friday night.

Now for the weekend review.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stay informed.

spooky weekend.

>> Okay.

To that point, there's a debate about whether they should be trick or treating set out standardize A lot of towns.

A lot of suburbs do that on a Saturday.

It gets weird.

I mean, not for the kids love the but for the parents have to buy more expensive candy than When did you start?

And when does came early that you have that you can on the Saturday.

The worries they show 1, 2 o'clock because it's a daytime.

And there's some question like an Oak park than an actual debate on the change the time because they're worried about the kids being out too late and the thing, why not do it really?

I think it's it's probably a good conversation with closed captioning is made possible by Robert a and Clifford law offices.

>> Personal injury, law firm,